Abuse Cited as Cause for Murder-Suicide

OAKLAND— Diana Harden, age 64, fatally shot her daughter Yvette, age 43, and then herself Sunday night at Oakland Springs Health Center in Oakland, California. Yvette resided at the skilled nursing facility for 6 years, after being serious injured in a car accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury and quadriplegia 15 years earlier. Prior to residing at Oakland Springs Health Center, Yvette had lived briefly at home and then in a series of nursing facilities.

According to a letter Diana Harden sent to the Oakland ABC news channel ABC 7 prior to the shootings, her daughter had begged her to end her life due to unremitting abuse she suffered at the facility. The local news channel checked state records and found 54 complaints against the nursing home last year, 29 of them substantiated. Pat McGinnis of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform, said, "If nothing else, let's heed this mother's cry and say 'let's do something not just about the people that are in nursing homes, but let's do something about keeping people out of nursing homes in the first place.” Police continue to investigate.

SOURCES:
Mother’s Letter Explains Murder-Suicide
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?section=news/iteam&id=7014866
Murder Suicide at Oakland Nursing Home
http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_13333239
Mother kills disabled daughter, self in apparent murder-suicide at Oakland nursing home
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-us-nursing-home-murder-suicide,0,5577715.story

Texas State School Deaths Spark Protests

AUSTIN, Texas— Protesters gathered at a Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services (DADS) board meeting yesterday to demonstrate against alleged mistreatment of state school residents who have disabilities, including intellectual disabilities. Wearing shirts with the number 53 on them and chanting “Shame on you” and “53 deaths on your watch”, the protesters disrupted the meeting for about 10 minutes, until security personnel escorted them out. The protesters belong to an Community Now, an advocacy group. According to the Austin-American Statement, “A federal Department of Justice report released last week found at least 53 patients in Texas' large residential facilities died in 2007 from preventable conditions that were often the result of lapses in care.” Since 2004, the state has terminated or suspended over 800 employees for mistreating consumers.

SOURCES:

Protesters disrupt meeting about Texas' state schools for the disabled.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-stateschools_11tex.ART.State.Edition1.4ac8359.html

Protesters disrupt state meeting

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/6157643.html

Protesters disrupt state council meeting, angry about conditions at state schools

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/politics/entries/2008/12/10/protesters_disrupt_state_counc.html

(INCLUDES VIDEO of Protest)

RELATED:

http://www.offthekuff.com/mt/archives/009890.html

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-stateschools_25tex.ART.State.Edition2.42b6d15.html

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-07-31/news/texas-woman-fights-abuse-at-the-state-s-schools-for-the-mentally-retarded/